University of Tennessee Athletics
Phillip Fulmer's Tuesday Media Day Comments
September 23, 2008 | Football
Sept. 23, 2008
"As a head football coach, it's really important that I deal with what is real and evaluate where we are and what we need to do better. What is absolutely real is that we have not played as well consistently as anyone would like, starting with me and the assistant coaches and most of all the players. They're the ones that have the most invested in this as far as their efforts and time. They certainly share in the disappointment when you don't play well.
"I told our team on Sunday that the sun came up regardless of what anybody might have thought. Often times, life is full of adversities. And it's not what happens to you; it's how you handle what happens to you. I think this football team is a team that will fight. We certainly haven't had an effort problem; we haven't had an attitude problem. Contrary to what some people might have said on television, we haven't had a leadership problem at all. We have a consistency of execution problem on offense from time to time. We've been here before and we know how to respond to that as coaches. We've won 148 football games in my time here at Tennessee and lost a lot less than that. We didn't just all of the sudden get stupid as coaches. We know what we're doing and we're going to go to the practice field and correct and work and put our football team on the field with the best advantage we can possibly have.
"I do believe in this football team. I'm very committed to this football team as to how they've gone about their business in preparing. The simple matter of fact is that we've got to play better in our ball games.
"I have never been an excuse maker; I don't expect our football team to be excuse makers but to be responsible for where they can improve themselves. The place you can do that is not in the meeting room where it's nice and cool; it's not in the classroom; it's not even when they're having their down time and talking as a football team. It's on the practice field, that's where it's got to happen. That's exactly the way we're approaching this particular football team.
"When you look at our execution and what we're doing, you certainly evaluate it a lot. We don't have a scheme problem and certainly not an effort problem. It's about executing, and I said after the game on Saturday that that's my job and my responsibility, and that's exactly what I meant. I expect our team to respond accordingly as we go through this week of preparation for Auburn.
"I do expect our team to have a great demeanor in how they go about practice. I expect to see the same kind of effort in our preparation and great fundamentals on the practice field and improvement so that we can play better in the ball games.
"Auburn is a very fine football team. They took the defending national champions to the wire. They're very good on defense, one of the best statistically in the league and in the country. They have a very solid kicking game on both sides and an outstanding returner. Offensively, they were much improved in their last game against a better team than they had played in their first couple of games.
"I'm anxious to see how we respond. I think our team will do very well."
NORTHERN ILLINOIS VS. TENNESSEE TO BE ON PAY-PER-VIEW
The UT-Northern Illinois game on Oct. 4 in Knoxville is being televised on a pay-per-view basis across the state of Tennessee. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Eastern time (6 p.m. Central).
The announcing team for the game telecast will be Randy Smith (play-by-play) and former Vol and NFL quarterback Pat Ryan (color analysis).
Cable systems across the state of Tennessee are scheduled to carry the telecast from the VideoSeat pay-per-view service. The game also is being made available as a pay-per-view event to Tennessee Dish Network subscribers and DirecTV subscribers. Channel numbers and ordering information for home dish owners will be forthcoming next week.
ESPN GamePlan is expected to offer the contest to fans living outside the state of Tennessee via the ESPN GamePlan package. The game will be blacked out on ESPN GamePlan in the state of Tennessee and cannot be ordered as part of ESPN's package.
